1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of sports TV shows and display, especially in the field of online tracking of ball and players in football games.
2. Description of Related Art
In ball games, the viewer attention is divided between a ball and the players manipulating the ball in certain ways along the game rules. The ball is a small object relative to the players and a tiny object relative to the size of the playing field or even a substantial portion of the playing field. Moreover, at times the ball is totally occluded from part or all the viewers and TV spectators by the bodies of the players, for example. Thus, there is a need to present the ball position or location and possibly the ball pose to viewer. In addition, a systematic determination of the ball position may enable several applications of interest for viewers and game analysts, like online and off-line presentation of the ball orbit along certain time interval, including occlusion periods, accumulation and presentation of statistical data relating to the ball, etc.
There is a need to track an object in other fields as well, the security and police fields for example. Thus, a system applicable for the sports field, may be used for those fields as well.
It is an objective of the present invention to enable continuous tracking of the football during an entire match, lasting about four hours. Additional objective is to track simultaneously several identified balls, each with its own location details. The desired system should function in open as well as close arenas, and get ball position accuracy within 5 cm, preferably within 1 cm, in update rate of 5-30/sec, preferably 10-20/sec, at a variety of environmental conditions, including rainfall and snow.